Ashes and Fire
by Gol Heim
Summary: A home of ash memories of Fire. The tale of a boy who grew from a story of cinders and blood.
1. Memories of Fire

_A.N: This is a quick story that has bounced around in my head for quite awhile. It's pretty much written and I'm happy with what I have as the completed story. But read it to the end, enjoy(if you're able), and lmk if you want me to continue. In any case, thank you for reading "_ _ **Ashes and Fire**_ _"_

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 **Chapter One:** **Memories of** **Fire**

Agrippa swept his messy white gray hair out of his eyes as he looked up towards the ship's mast. Had he ever been on a ship this large? If so, he had been too small to remember.

The massive emblem of house Telvanni adorned the broad sails. Swirls inside of swirls. It reminded him of the way ash floated in the wind. Twisting and spinning.

Nearly five years had passed since his home was destroyed. The city of Firewatch had always been a proud and yet somehow humble imperial city, with both massive stone walls and a bustling little community.

His mother had been a noble from High Rock who fell in love with his father, an imperial legate during the war against the Aldmeri dominion. When his position moved him to Morrowind, he took his family instead of abandoning them.

As a boy, Agrippa had always played in the ash. It was everywhere after all. Huge piles of ash blown in from red mountain were strewn all over town. At the time, he had wanted nothing more than to visit the great volcano.

He enjoyed the feel of the incinerated dust on his hands, the sweet smell in his nose, the color of the ash even matched his gray hair.

From his recollection, Agrippa surmised that he had a good childhood. Running through the square with the other children. Excitedly watching the Fighter's Guild members spar and practice. Reading the colorful tomes in the Imperial Library.

Then everything changed.

The night after his ninth birthday, Agrippa remembered being woken by an explosion. His mother rushing in his room to make sure he was okay. Sometimes he would try to picture her face, but he could never remember the details.

The Thalmor were attacking Firewatch in their campaign against the Empire.

It had long been thought that a large scale invasion by Aldmeri forces upon Firewatch would be impossible. The waters encircling the dock were rife with large jutting volcanic boulders. They stood as a natural monolithic defense against any large boats that attempted to dock.

What the empire didn't count on were the master destruction mages of the Thalmor. All it took was a half dozen longboats with rows of masked mages to take the city's defenses completely by surprise.

He remembered his mother gripping his hand as they ran to the docks.

He remembered the tall imperial towers ablaze with roaring fire, as if they were the Red Mountain erupting.

Agrippa didn't remember too much of what his mother told him as a child. Honestly he hardly remembered the sound of her voice. But he knew that he'd never forget the last thing she told him as she pushed his tiny raft away from the burning city. "Go! Go and live. Don't look back."

He had begged his mother to come with him, but all the life boats and ships had been burned by the Aldmeri. The sad little raft they had found had barely held his weight.

Agrippa didn't remember much about his mother. But he remembered watching her cut down on that dock by Thalmor soldiers as he floated away towards Vvardenfell.

The ship's docking bell rang, snapping Agrippa out of his thoughts.

"All hands to port!" The captain shouted. "Docking in Raven Rock now!"

Quickly, Agrippa grabbed a rope and helped pull the Telvanni galleon towards the dock. He glanced towards the town as he tied the rope to a wooden post.

It was a nice looking settlement, plenty of ash covered the isle which was always good in his mind.

From the bowels of the ship, a man strode on deck. He was a Dunmer clad in long red robes, custom tailored for the wizards of house Telvanni. He had a clean shaven head and a pointed gray beard jutting from his chin. A permanent scowl of impatience adorned his face.

The wizard took one look at the settlement and frowned. "Well Raven Rock is just as dull as I left it. No doubt it's inhabitants will be overjoyed at my return."

The Telvanni Dunmer turned and glared at Agrippa "Come here boy!"

Agrippa spent a few moments finishing the knot and then walked over to the wizard "Yeah?" He replied.

Neloth stroked his beard pondering and then suddenly struck the boy on the cheek. "When I tell to come you will come immediately. Do I make myself clear?"

Agrippa gritted his teeth and nodded curtly. "Yes."

Neloth struck him again. "And you will refer to me as Master Neloth. Understand?"

Averting his gaze, the boy nodded again. "Yes Master Neloth."

"How old are you and where are you from?"

"Thirteen Master Neloth… and I'm from Firewatch."

Since the destruction of his home, Agrippa had lived in the ashlands of Vvardenfell by hunting and stealing. Through his travels, he developed his unique magical affinity. Just a week ago he had made the mistake of stealing from a certain Telvanni wizard and getting caught.

When Agrippa displayed his unique skills in order to defend himself, Neloth had spared his life. Instead of killing him, Neloth demanded a life debt of service in exchange for magical tutelage.

Agrippa was inclined to accept the offer, lest he be turned into a pile of ash himself.

Neloth waved his hand in impatience. "Yes yes, very nice. Now show me the magic you used when I found you." He demanded. "Your usefulness to me will be determined by your power's versatility and your skill in this… unique brand of magic."

Agrippa's eyes widened and darted back and forth along the spotless deck of the ship. "I can't."

Neloth's face darkened furiously. "What?"

"I mean to say, I can't do it here… Master Neloth." Agrippa recovered quickly. "I need some ash." He gestured towards the town.

Neloth's lips quirked and he nodded once again. "I suppose that makes sense. With your weak abilities, I doubt you possess any magical prowess without ash being present."

Agrippa's eye twitched. "Do you possess any ability to manipulate ash? Master."

With his scowl deepening Neloth snapped his fingers. Suddenly wind whipped around the wizard so fiercely that it blew Agrippa off the boat, across the dock, and into the bay.

Agrippa immediately scrambled towards the surface of the water, he was not the strongest swimmer and began to panic. His head broke the surface and he gasped lungfuls of air.

Neloth stood on the edge of the dock with his arms resting behind his back. He stared lazily at the boy in the water as if already bored by the situation.

"If you profess to mock me again boy, I will not be so inclined to spare you. I possess powers that you could not imagine." The wizard stayed in a deadly serious tone as he held up two fingers. "You have two choices. One, you can disobey or disrespect me again and I'll finish what I started when I caught you stealing from me." Neloth gave a sadistic grin. "Or two, you will be my new servant and do my bidding. Perhaps you might even learn something. What say you?"

As Agrippa floundered towards the dock he managed a quick nod.

"Good." Neloth chirped as he strode off. "Once you get up here, unload my things from the ship. It's been too long since I stayed in Tel Mithryn."

Five years Later

Agrippa inhaled deeply, exhaled slowly, and stepped onto the glowing blue rune of Tel Mithryn. The pulsating enchantment quickly lifted him upwards and into the tower of the giant mushroom.

He immediately spotted Neloth scouring the text "Wind and Sand." A book that Agrippa had painstakingly retrieved a few weeks ago.

Agrippa kneeled before the Telvanni lord and bowed his head. "I've returned from Skyrim with the staff Master Neloth."

Without looking up from the book, Neloth scowled. "You didn't have to speak a word. I could sense it the moment you came in." The mer glanced up from his book and held out his hand expectantly.

As soon as Agrippa brandished the staff of Azra, it leapt from his fingers and into Neloth's open palm.

Neloth observed the staff up and down, his eyes narrow and calculating. Finally he nodded and looked down upon Agrippa. "You've proven your worth my servant. As a reward, take this staff from my personal collection. I think you'll find it useful."

Surprised, Agrippa lifted his gaze and carefully took the new staff. It had quite a powerful frost storm enchantment on it.

This was new. Neloth loathed giving compliments and rarely gave gifts in payment of service.

Agrippa's brow tightened behind his mask. There was only one explanation. The old wizard was going to make him do something dangerous.

As if on queue, Neloth closed the book and spoke again. "As you know I've made a few enemies in my lifetime and had one or two attempts on my life made."

Agrippa nearly rolled his eyes. When he arrived in Tel Mithryn all those years ago, after a battery of painful experiments, Neloth decided that the best way he could use Agrippa was as his hand. A guard, a servant, and a weapon.

Over the years, Agrippa had stopped no less that six attempts on Neloth's life and had on multiple occasions preemptively killed various enemies of his.

When somebody got on the wizard's bad side, Agrippa was the muscle sent to punish.

Throughout the years, Agrippa had developed a number of deadly skills. He was now adorned in a full set of light chitin armor, save for the chest piece. That had belonged to a cultist that attacked Agrippa when he wandered near one of the bizarre shrines being built around the earth stones. He also always kept a large urn filled with ash strapped to the back of his belt in case his duties took him beyond the ash fields.

His powers of ash had also grown with experience.

Though Neloth taught him very little, Agrippa was more than adept at developing his own unique spells. He could command massive amounts of ash with near impunity, using very little magica. This irritated Master Neloth to no end, as he found much difficulty in the combination of alteration and destruction magic it took to cast ash spells.

Neloth cleared his throat, snapping Agrippa out of his thoughts. "Are you listening boy?"

"Yes Master Neloth." He responded.

The wizard looked suspicious but continued anyway. "As I was saying, there are too many coincidences. There must be someone behind all of my recent troubles."

When he thought about it, Agrippa did realize that multiple oddities had occurred recently. Multiple attacks of the ash spawn and with increased numbers, stewards killed, even patches of the mushroom towers had been poisoned.

"One of your enemies on the mainland Master?" Agrippa suggested.

"No, in this case I have reason to believe it's someone in Solstheim."

Behind his mask, Agrippa grinned. Hunting people down was always easier on the ash covered island. "Shall I kill him for you Master Neloth?"

Neloth chuckled. "Yes well, you've always been quite adept at that. Ordinarily I would identify the culprit and the source of the attacks… but I think I'm going to let you handle this one yourself."

The wizard stroked his beard and glanced and the roof, weighing his decision. "I don't have time to go traipsing all over Solstheim, and in the past you have always proven yourself adept at assassinations."

The wizard bobbed his head and made a face as if he had convinced himself of his own decision. "This will be your test boy. Root out my nemesis and you will have the privilege of being my apprentice along with Talvas."

Agrippa looked up and the wizard and quickly looked back down at the ground. Neloth had never suggested the idea of making Agrippa anything more than a tool. It was far more characteristic of the old dunmer to demean and degrade the people around him.

Agrippa simply nodded. "I will carry out the task Master Neloth."

Neloth returned to his book. "It's no matter if you don't. One less apprentice to worry about." He chuckled darkly. "Now get out, and be sure to bring back an amusing story of the murder."

Agrippa quickly stood, bowed, and turned to leave.

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 _E.N: What do you guys think so far? I'll post the next chapter tomorrow. It's written, but my vision is getting fuzzy. Nap time!_


	2. Heart of Stone

_A.N: On to day two! Wicked tired, but pumped to get the second and third chapter out. Hope you guys enjoy 3_

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 **Chapter 2: Heart of Stone**

After nearly two days of tracking footprints in the shifting ash and tracing the origin of the attacks, Agrippa had pinpointed his target in Highpoint tower.

After hours of running through the old fortress and destroying ash spawn over and over, Agrippa had finally reached a large stone room with three pillars in the middle.

A voice called out from the scaffolding behind him.

"You've gone far enough! Neloth is a fool to think he could send some lowlife to finish me off!"

Agrippa squinted his eyes at the figure, but before he could get a good look at her, she dashed off deeper into the cavern.

He broke into a run towards the scaffolding, but just then the three pillars lit up with lightning that struck a spot in the center. In a yellow flash an ash guardian and a handful of ash spawn were conjured into existence.

Agrippa grinned and cracked his knuckles. It had been awhile since he'd seen a guardian summoned by someone else. This woman was good, but he was the master of ash.

Agrippa snapped his fingers and the remaining ash in the entire room leapt to his command, solidifying into five ash guardians and over a dozen ash spawn.

Both sides stood still for a moment. Then all of a sudden, everything erupted into a bursting crash of chaos. Ash colliding into ash.

Smoke bellowed, ashen weapons clashed. Ashen men dissolved into glowing piles of embers.

Inevitably Agrippa's summoned creatures overwhelmed the opposing forces and he was on his way chasing the woman.

Finally Agrippa stormed into the last room of the underground fortress. The woman sorceress stood above him on a balcony. "I'm surprised you made it past all that, almost impressed. But now you-"

"Ildari Sarothril!" Agrippa shouted.

The woman faltered and cocked her head. She leaned over the railing and squinted her eyes. "...Agrippa?"

He took off his chitin helmet and slipped it under his arm. His white gray hair, now grown long, was pinned back into a ponytail. He had grown an equally pale, slender beard that pointed from his chin as well. "Yeah… you're the one commanding the ash spawn attacks on Tel Mithryn?" He asked.

"You're the servant Neloth sent to assassinate me?" Ildari pondered for a moment. "Actually that makes perfect sense. You were always the one to do his dirty work."

"And you were the esteemed apprentice." Agrippa retorted.

Ildari scoffed angrily "Apprentice, what a joke. That bastard experimented on me by force and when it all went to shit, he threw me away with the garbage. See?" She opened the front of her faded Telvanni wizard robes, revealing a pulsating heart stone embedded into her chest.

It all made sense. The circumstances surrounding her death were always nondescript. It had also occurred around the same time Neloth started seriously researching the heart stones.

Ildari leapt from the upper level and landed with a huff in front of Agrippa. "He sent you. This is perfect." The woman chuckled madly to herself. "Neloth sent you, and now we can kill him together!"

Agrippa simply nodded and remained silent.

Ildari didn't falter and became more animated in her fantasy. "Yes yes! I've been scraping by for months like this. Attacking Tel Mithryn however I can. But it's all amounted to Nothing!" She nearly screamed. "A dead steward, easily replaced. A damaged tower, quickly mended. Until now I've been too weak to even catch Neloth's attention!"

Her intense, frantic eyes quickly focused on Agrippa.

She skipped over and gripped him by the shoulders. "But with your power we can kill him! Don't you see? You're my weapon against that old bastard! You've got more reason than anybody to take Neloth down, and you're more powerful than anyone in the ash. With your strength and my wits, we'll rule over this miserable island-"

Ildari froze as Agrippa's fingers slipped into her chest and firmly gripped the heart stone keeping her alive.

Her eyes darted towards his, as if searching for an answer.

"Why? You hate him as much as I do and I'm your best shot at killing him. Why?" She began to feel panic. "Y-you need me!"

Agrippa gave a calm smile. "My plans are bigger than you. Bigger than Neloth. There is no room for a madwoman in them." With a quick jerk, the heart stone was his and Ildari slumped over, a corpse on the ground.

Agrippa paused for a moment, examining the heart stone, turning it this way and that. It had been Neloth's latest experiment at the time. To tie the life energies of someone to the heart stone. Agrippa had known that it would be a colossal failure from the beginning. The stones weren't just an energy source embedded in some rock. It was alive. A consciousness that seeped into the earth from the ash. Anyone who had been attached to the stone had either died or been driven mad.

Slipping the pulsing round stone into his satchel, Agrippa strode towards the exit of the buried fortress.

Instead of going to Tel Mithryn, Agrippa headed into the ash fields.

Standing in front of an ashen cliff, Agrippa extended his arms and closed his eyes.

Suddenly the ash parted, revealing a mushroom hovel previously buried in the ash. A clipping from Tel Mithryn that Agrippa had raised since his first year on Solstheim. His third greatest secret kept from Neloth.

It was an ugly little recreation compared the the umbrella towers of Tel Mithryn. The little round hovel was more reminiscent of a giant truffle, buried in the ground. The growth of fungal mushroom towers was one of the greatest hidden magics of house Telvanni, unique knowledge to their head wizards and apprentices.

However the hovel's tiny size and camouflage suited Agrippa's needs perfectly. Had Neloth ever discovered the stolen creation, he would have undoubtedly killed him on the spot.

Agrippa entered through the round front door and sealed the entrance as he had hundreds of times before. The tiny hovel lay hidden in between Tel Mithryn and Raven Rock. Any time Neloth had him run errands or perform a task, which was extremely often, he would stop by.

Three bookshelves sat in the back, lined with volume after volume of whatever Agrippa could get his hands on over the years. Though Neloth had taught him next to nothing, his hunger for knowledge had always been great. History, magic theory, even poetry captured his literary interests.

His eyes ran over the bookcase as they had a thousand times before. His gaze lingered for a moment on a particularly thick, warped time that stood out from the collection.

Filament and Filigree. Agrippa's spine tingled. That book was quite a read.

A single chest and simple bed covered in pelts laid in the corner. Inside lay a myriad of trinkets, trophies, and armors that Agrippa had felt inclined to keep in his journeys. The Champion's Cudgel, Ahzidal's armor, and the Bloodskal Blade to name a few.

A quaint little table with two wooden chairs ready to be utilized sat by the bookshelves. When he arrived back is Solstheim a day early or so, he would often sit and read for hours in peace. When someone was still in Tel Mithryn, Neloth had a tendency to come up with cruel tasks to do.

If the first secret Agrippa kept was the fungal hovel itself, then the second was the unique workbench that sat on the left side of the home.

After months of studying Neloth's arcane and staff enchanter, Agrippa had designed a unique workbench that allowed him to create weapons of ash bound by heart stones.

He had always been able to feel the ash. To sense it's history and energy. It was quite easy for him to collect the appropriate ash and bond it to heart stones that allowed it.

The first weapons he'd created had been crude, jagged things that could hardly cut weeds. But as he became more adept in his unique art, the quality of the weapons became more and more honed. Eventually his work rivaled the strength and sharpness of stalhrim.

Finally, the greatest secret Agrippa possessed was worn by a mannequin that stood against the back wall of the little round hut.. A brown robed outfit with a unique bonemold mask and shoulder pads. It was Agrippa's greatest creation and had taken him nearly three years to construct. The robes of an ash master.

The ash mage took a deep breath and got to work.

After an hour, and with the use of Ildari's heart stone and carefully selected spawn ash, he created a deadly sword. Such a volatile and powerful soul bonded to the stone guaranteed effectiveness. The blade was sleek and curved like a falchion. The heart stone acted as the hand guard, and sent its power coursing through the weapon. His finest work, imbued with powerful fire runes.

Agrippa swung the sword in a figure eight and carefully set it on the table. He smiled. This had been a long time coming.

Carefully, he undressed the mannequin and adorned the ash master robes. The bonemold plate mask filtered in clean air and the extended eyeholes allowed him to see through the thickest of storms. Underneath the robes themselves was tempered leather, reinforced with more bonemold plating. All were highly enchanted to strengthen his ash magic.

He had often put on the robes, testing the fit and enchantments. They felt like a second skin to him now.

Thinking of the plan once more, he shivered with anticipation.

Taking a slow breath to calm himself, Agrippa sat and meditated.

Everything was finally ready.

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 _E.N: Hope you guys enjoyed this chapter. The last one is coming up next. The showdown with Neloth comes next!_


	3. Ash Storm

_A.N: Hoorah! This is the last planned chapter I have for Agrippa's story. I'll put the story on completed after it's posted. Read and enjoy_

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 **Chapter 3: Ash Storm**

When Agrippa strode onto the ashen grounds of Tel Mithryn he was immediately met by Talvas, Neloth's current apprentice. His hands glowed with magical power.

The dunmer lad called out. "Stop! Neloth knows of your treachery Agrippa and he sends me to stop you. Surrender and I will not harm y-"

Talvas froze on the spot, literally. His body, now encased in ash, was completely stuck. His mouth hung open as he toppled backwards onto the ground.

Agrippa kneeled over the apprentice wizard. When he spoke, his voice was deeper, muffled by the mask. "Talvas. I know you hold no love for Neloth." He said without emotion. "That spell should hold you for a few minutes, which should be more than enough time for me to deal with him."

"When you're able to move, you have two choices." Agrippa stayed in a deadly serious tone voice as he held up two fingers. "One, you leave Tel Mithryn and if I ever see your face again I will cremate you on the spot. Or two, stay in Tel Mithryn and serve me with the assurance that I would be a better master than Neloth."

Agrippa patted the paralyzed Dunmer's head and stood. "I'm going to show that bastard why he should have killed me all those years ago."

* * *

Neloth sat smugly in his chair sipping some cannis root tea.

Having cleverly disenchanted the rune on the entryway of the mushroom, he doubted Agrippa would be able to enter at all.

The old wizard chuckled. Even if he did, what could a whelp like him do against the greatest wizard in Morrowind and possibly the world?!

Just then, a heavy wind picked up inside the laboratory as waves of ash spewed from the entrance. Objects began to swirl everywhere. Books flew off the shelves. Potions spilled their contents all over the ground. Even the candles went out, casting the room into complete darkness.

At once Neloth cast several magelight spells around the room, illuminating Agrippa who floated in front of him.

With arms crossed, a whirlwind of ash kept the masked wizard airborne as he floated seemingly effortlessly. With a wave of his hand, the spell dissipated and Agrippa gently stepped onto the ground.

Neloth scowled characteristically. "I suppose this means that Talvas is dead. It's just as well, he was quite a disappointing apprentice." Agrippa's lack of reaction irritated the Telvanni warlock. "Almost as disappointing as you my boy. I saw your power, as limited as it was, and I took you in. You've never shown any skill beyond fire magic and those ashen tricks you have. Your strength is truly your weakness." He chuckled.

Agrippa didn't budge or speak, further irritating the Telvanni mage.

In an instant, Neloth let off a myriad of complex spells. Ebonyflesh, whirlwind cloak, summoning two Storm Atronachs. "Your lack of versatility will be your downfall and you have proven yourself useless to me. Goodbye my servant." Neloth pulled two chain lightning staves from his back and prepared to fire.

If Agrippa grinned, the gesture was lost from behind the mask as he extended both arms to his sides, instantly creating over twenty ash spawn around the room along with a plethora of ash guardians and fire atronachs.

The color drained from Neloth's already pale face as he gaped. "Impossible… no mage in the world can do that."

Agrippa shook his head. "There is no mage on Nirn like me." Unsheathing his sword, he pointed it towards the Telvanni sorcerer.

In response, every summoned creatures lurched forward in attack, moaning with weapons raised.

Neloth grimaced and released a myriad of shock magic which coursed through the crowd of ash monsters. Three ash spawn were destroyed in one blast of lightning, but the mob of living ash pressed forward as a single force.

In a barrage of strikes and two bursts of thunder, the storm atronachs dissipated, leaving Neloth alone. The wizard grimaced and released the remaining charge from the staves, obliterating nearly a dozen ash creatures.

With minimal movement, Agrippa recast the spells again and again animating the ash over and over endlessly.

Neloth was nearly impossible to see over the crowd of sentient ash, but the entire half of the tower crackled with purple energy as he incinerated row after row.

Eventually the staves fizzled out, emptied of power. Neloth threw them aside and glanced around. He was beginning to feel a bit fatigued and there appeared to be even more ash spawn than when the battle started. The realization struck him quickly. There were only ash spawn left.

The lightning had destroyed row after row of creature and it was obvious that more had been summoned to keep up the attack, so why hadn't Agrippa summoned guardians and atronachs like before?

Neloth personally knew that summoning ash spawn had always been the boy's forte. In all his years of service, ash spawn was the go to summon that he created.

A bead of sweat trickled down Neloth's shaved head. Despite the obviously enchanted robes, the boy was beginning to feel fatigue as well.

Neloth grinned and cast a large whirlwind cloak, ensuring that none of the creatures got near him. "You've put up a good fight my boy, I'll give you that much. Your mastery of ash magic is top notch. But every school of magic has it's limit and you have reached yours!"

Neloth extended his fingertips towards the mob. A smattering of sparks jumped from his hands, then suddenly thick bolts of electricity coursed from his finger tips.

The bolts pierced through the ash spawn, obliterating row after row.

Neloth cackled. The boy had put up a good fight, a better one than he had enjoyed in years, but it was nearing it's end and he would soon be no more than a smoking pile of ash himself.

Suddenly, the world lurched and became blurry. All of the ash spawn suddenly froze and dissolved into piles of ash that swirled around Agrippa who was standing with his arms crossed again.

Neloth stared, confused. He tried to take a step towards the boy, but felt a firm tightness pull at his chest. He looked down and saw the spike of solidified ash that had pierced him from behind protruding out of his chest.

The Telvanni wizard tried to gasp, but his lungs didn't appear to be working correctly. The whole world spun as he touched the ash spike gingerly.

Neloth looked up for a split second, just in time to see Agrippa dashing towards him, ashen sword pulled back and ready to strike. It suddenly whipped forward, slashing through the wizard's neck.

The world turned upside down and then, nothing.

...

Agrippa slipped off the enchanted bonemold mask. He took a deep breath and exhaled shakily, smoothing back his white gray hair.

He inspected the bloodstained sword, turning it from side to side. Eventually Agrippa nodded and clipped the ashen blade to his hip. "Finally."

* * *

"The fit is very nice master Agrippa." Drovas Relvi, the steward commented as he fixed the collar of Agrippa's new Telvanni robes. They weren't nearly as suited to him as the ash robes, but it was necessary to wear for the coming Telvanni council meeting in Raven Rock.

Drovas began fitting on the last part of the outfit. The massive ashen urn.

It had been over two months since Neloth's defeat and Agrippa had been working hard to replace him as a Master of house Telvanni. So far the council had accepted him as a member of the house.

Agrippa wasn't too worried about the ascension of position. It was fairly common for a powerful apprentice to inherit the title of Master in house Telvanni, usually in some final duel to the death. Before the battle, Agrippa had made sure to research all Telvanni customs he could find.

As expected following Neloth's death a meeting was immediately called, bringing the Telvanni Masters together. The death of a Telvanni council member always prompted a response meeting from the rest of the council. It had been decades since any member's of the council had died.

The steward clipped the last piece together and stepped back smiling. "It's quite fittin on you Master Agrippa. Much more than it was on Master Neloth… er meaning no disrespect."

After the short battle between the two wizards, nearly all of the residents of Tel Mithryn had stayed and agreed to serve him as the new Master. It turned out that being a cruel and unforgiving employer hadn't earned Neloth much loyalty.

After turning from side to side in the mirror, Agrippa nodded in approval.

Drovas straightened formally. "Is there anything else I can do for you before your departure Master Agrippa?"

Agrippa tugged securely on the straps that held his urn. "No, thank you Drovas. You may return to your duties."

The steward bowed curtly and left.

Agrippa took one last look around the inside of the mushroom tower. A few changes had been made to the new home and work space. Predictably there were urns of ash everywhere as well as incense burning. Agrippa had found that he was quite fond of the aroma. A large collection of books and bookshelves had been added to feed Agrippa's reading habit.

It was all his and he earned it. It still wasn't enough, but it was his first real step towards his goal.

Agrippa stepped on the middle platform of the fungal tower, preparing to descend. He glanced up and gazed longingly at the Ash robes that adorned the newly moved mannequin in back.

One step forward and Agrippa quickly floated to the door.

Outside Talvas had waited for him patiently. "Ready to go master Agrippa?"

Straightening the urn on his back, Agrippa nodded. "Let's be off Talvas. I've heard that the Telvanni council is made up of impatient old mer and do not take kindly to tardiness."

The apprentice bowed, and the two headed off, across the ashlands and towards Raven Rock.

* * *

 _E.N: Aaaand we're done! I hope you guys enjoyed reading **Ashes and Fire** as much as I enjoyed writing it. This story was a long time coming and was inspired by a build that I had always wanted to do, but due to game restrictions was never completely able to. However through writing, our imaginations are unbound and I'm Sooo greatful for Skyrim to give me such a fantastic template in which to dream (all rights to Bethesda Studios of course. Praise be Todd Howard.)_

 _Anyways if you loved it, hated it, or thought it was mediocre I'd love to hear any feedback. I've had a few ideas for how this story could go, but nothing is concrete or written. So if you'd like to see more (or give me an idea of how you'd like the story to go) then feel free to comment or PM me! I'm always open to criticism and suggestions. Thanks guys!_


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